


Christmas ain't so bad

by doublejfics



Series: 25 Days of Joshtin Love [12]
Category: SB19 (Band)
Genre: 25 Days of Christmas Prompt Challenge, Fluff, M/M, Oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:08:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28027536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doublejfics/pseuds/doublejfics
Summary: "I hate the holiday season"
Relationships: Justin De Dios/Josh Cullen Santos
Series: 25 Days of Joshtin Love [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2035555
Kudos: 15





	Christmas ain't so bad

**Day 12: "I hate the holiday season.”**

* * *

For as long as Josh could remember, he had always  _ despised _ the holiday season. There was nothing special that he could remember about it, just days filled with traffic, overcrowded establishments and added workload from managers that wanted him to rush his work for the holidays.

Don’t get him wrong, he knew the importance of holidays and Christmastime. He valued having a day off with his family to celebrate and relax, but the whole process was just too troublesome for him. Why does he have to go out and buy gifts for his friends and family when he can do that at any time of the year? Why does he have to give money to a bunch of nieces and nephews he hasn’t even met? And why does he have to cook for his family when he already does that everyday anyway?

So Josh never really celebrated Christmas properly. Aside from the Noche Buena and gift-giving with his family members, Josh preferred to stay at home and sleep the holidays off, or perhaps use the free-time to play games on his PC til 4 in the morning, declining all offers involving going out from his relatives and friends.

Call him a killjoy, but Josh preferred celebrating Christmas like this.

Until he started dating Justin.

Living with the younger was like living with someone who had the opposite beliefs as you. More often than not, the two would find themselves arguing over the littlest of things, their likes and dislikes usually opposing one another’s. 

A good part of their relationship was spent arguing over how to spend their day-offs. Justin would always want to go out, visit a new park or try a new restaurant, and of course Josh would oppose his ideas, saying that staying at home and sleeping in was a better idea. They would spend a good hour bickering, until one of them would inevitably decide to just let it go and do whatever the other wanted.

Today was one of those days. December had rolled by quicker than Josh expected, he had been too busy at work that he had completely forgotten about the holiday, which resulted in him not being able to buy gifts.

So here he was, mere three days from Christmas, stuck in a traffic jam as he and his boyfriend made their way to the nearest shopping mall for a last-minute Christmas shopping.

“I can’t believe you forgot to buy Christmas gifts!” Justin exclaimed in the driver’s seat of the car they were in. Josh was leaning against his seat by the passenger’s, sighing in annoyance at the honking vehicles surrounding them on the road.

“I was busy, ok?” Josh grumbled. “And you know I’m not very keen on the Christmas shopping thing.”

“That’s not an excuse,” Justin playfully rolled his eyes. “Your family deserves presents!”

“Why don’t we just buy them online? Saves time, and gas.” Josh tried to reason himself out, but judging by Justin’s hard glare and the “are you kidding me?” look on his face, Josh knew his plan was doomed to fail even before it began.

“Do you know how much money you waste on shopping online? And besides, it’s not about the  _ actual  _ gifts, it’s about the journey!”

“This is one hell of a journey, then.” Josh scoffed at the heavy traffic right outside.

“Oh stop grumbling, you little grinch.”

Half an hour passes and the two of them finally make it into the shopping mall. Add another twenty minutes of circling around the full parking lot, the two of them manage to find themselves roaming around the crowded mall.

The two of them roamed around for a while, basking (more like scowling, in Josh’s case) at the twinkling lights and decorations strewn around, the Christmas music playing in the speakers, and the occasional appearance of Santa Claus at every window shop.

Josh held Justin’s hand tight, following the boy like a little kid as they stepped inside the department store. Josh had somewhat stopped fighting with Justin, almost succumbing to his defeat, when he sees the massive, mile-long queue for the cash register, and that was for only  _ one  _ of them.

“Oh hell, no.” Josh mumbled, stopping in his tracks. “Justin, no, let’s go home.”

“What? Why? We’re already here!” Justin exclaims.

“Don’t you see the line? It’ll take us an hour to get to the end!” Josh complained There was no way in hell he would wait in line for that long. Unless it was for Big Bang tickets. Or possibly to buy a PS5.

“Don’t worry about it too much! The line isn’t even taking long, see?” Justin tried to ease his worries by gesturing to the cash register but it did nothing to ease Josh’s annoyance. “Now lets go, we’ve got gifts to buy.”

* * *

Josh can’t believe he let himself be dragged into this.

“--okay so we’ve got the headphones that Ken wanted. Pau said he wanted shoes but we’ll get him a shirt too, just in case. Stell said something about a strawberry plushie… Your sister likes pink, right? ‘Cuz she told me she wanted this cute throw pillow last summer. Oh! And your niece said she likes Sophia the First now instead of the Little Mermaid. I asked her yester--”

“Jah!” Josh exclaimed, startling the younger, “Can you just, calm down for a second? You’re giving me a damn headache.” 

The moment Josh pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to will his migraine away, Justin’s face fell. All of the previous excitement earlier now replaced with disappointment.

“Oh.” Josh could see his shoulders drop. “Let’s just go home. I don’t think you’re enjoying this as much as I am.”

Justin threw all the items he had in his hand on the basket, leaving it by the shelf. He whizzed past Josh, obviously upset, but the older was quick to follow.

“Jah, baby, you know that’s not what I meant.” Josh sighed, speed walking to catch up with the younger male. “I was just overwhelmed, okay?”

Justin stopped, pouting at the older. “Yeah, because I forced you to go out even though you didn’t want to..”

“It’s not that I don’t want to..” Josh mumbled, which made Justin glare at him. “Okay, maybe I didn’t want to go out, but I wanted to do what  _ you _ wanted to do today. I know I told you that I wanted to home earlier, but that was just me being an annoying grinch.” Josh sighed, grabbing both of Justin’s hands. “I’m sorry, ok?”

“‘S okay.” He muttered. “I’m sorry, too.”

“It’s alright.” Josh smiled. “Now how ‘bout we head over to the toys section? I remember one of my cousins saying he wanted a nerf gun this year..”

Justin’s face lit up once more, and that was the only thing that mattered to Josh.

* * *

**“I hate the holiday season.”** Josh grumbled, carrying a dozen heavy bags into the truck of their car. It was way past 9 PM now, and they had just finished shopping.

Justin chuckled, “I know you do.’

The two of them headed into their respective seats after arranging the bags in the truck, and Josh sighed once his back hit the leather seat.

“Oh God,” He groaned. “I’m too old for this.”

Justin laughed. The two of them spent a good few minutes of silence, trying to catch their breaths and basking in the glory of their car’s air conditioning. Josh had his eyes closed, head against the headrest as he sighed, his arms and legs aching.

“Josh?” He heard Justin mutter. He opened his eyes to meet Justin’s sheepish smile.

“Hm?” 

“Thank you, for today. I know how much you hate the holidays… and knowing that you tolerated everything you went through today just for me means a lot.”

Josh chuckled, smiling at his boyfriend’s sudden confession. “You know I’d tolerate anything for you. Even your annoying bickering.”

Justin laughed as Josh playfully smacked his arm. “Love you, you little grinch.”

“Love you too, you big baby.”

Justin reached over Josh’s seat, pressing a quick, chaste kiss to his lips. “Wanna go get ice cream?” He smiled.

“Sure.”

Maybe the holidays weren’t so bad after all. 

* * *


End file.
